Lithuania and the United States are going to square off in the Semi-Finals of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the second time in a row after clinching big wins in the Palau Sant Jordi on Tuesday night.
Lithuania broke open a tight game against Turkey in the fourth quarter and prevailed, 73-61, and in the second game the USA turned on the style after the intermission before rolling to a 119-76victory over Slovenia.
In Tuesday’s opener, the team from the Baltics trailed Turkey by as many as eight points in the first half but ended up taking a 33-28 lead to the break.
The contest was close into the fourth quarter but Jonas Kazlauskas’ team outscored the Turks, 26-17, in the frame to seal the triumph.
Lithuania shot 10 of 19 from long range with Martynas Pocius, Darjus Lavrinovic and Renaldas Seibutis making three apiece.
Seibutis paced the scoring attack with 19 points while Jonas Valanciunas was outstanding again with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Omer Asik had 11 points and 10 rebounds in defeat.
The USA dominated the boards in their game against Slovenia and finished with a 53-38 rebounding advantage. Twenty-three of those rebounds came on the offense end.
Slovenia, with the Americans struggling to make some of their jump shots in the first half, only trailed 49-42.
But in the third quarter, the USA overwhelmed them defensively and frequently got into transition.
Mike Krzyzewski’s team finished with 40 points off 25 Slovenia turnovers.
Klay Thompson hit four of eight shots from long range and finished with 20 points for the USA, but captain James Harden was special in the third quarter.
After being shut out in the first half, Harden exploded for 12 of his 14 points as the USA took command and opened up an 86-64 lead.
Kenneth Faried also finished 14 points while Anthony Davis added 13 and the pair of Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving had a dozen each for the USA.
The United States handed the Lithuanians their only defeat in the Semi-Finals four years ago en route to the world title in Istanbul.
Wednesday will see the remaining two Quarter-Finals take place in Madrid.
In re-matches of Group Phase games from Pool A, Serbia will face Brazil before France take on the hosts Spain.
